The Inscription of Baicca
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
- Type
- Frontal panel of the sarcophagus.
- Material(s)
- Limestone.
- Execution
- Inscribed.
- Dimensions
- 46 × 110 cm
- Epigraphic Field
- 46 × 110 cm
- Letters Height
- 5.5-7.5 cm
Palaeographic comment
Dextrograde direction; horizontal alignment; irregular and vertical module; irregular ductus.
A with a broken crossbar.
E and F laterally compressed.
F with a long, oblique upper arm rising to the right.
M formed of four oblique strokes.
INSCRIPTION
INTERPRETATIVE TRANSCRIPTION
Ego magister Baicca, de
proprio meo arca<m> mihi
conparavi (!). Si qui eam
voluerit aperire, davit (!)
fisci viribus ar[g](enti) p(ondo) n(ummum) V.
APPARATUS CRITICUS
3. ARG(ENTI), Lettich 1983
.
TRANSLATION
To the Manes gods.
I, Baicca, master, purchased this coffin for myself with my own means. Whoever opens it shall pay to the fisc five pounds of silver.
PEOPLE
Baicca
- COGNOMEN
- Baicca
- ORIGIN (of the name Baicca)
- illyric
- GENDER
- male
- OCCUPATION
- civilian?
- ROLE
- dedicator/deceased
Bibliography
| Bertolini 1877, 120, n. 2. |
| CIL V 8988c |
| ILCV 464A |
| Lettich 1983, 63, n. 20. |
- EDR
-
EDR097933
- Author of the record:
- Damiana Baldassarra
- Date:
- 30-11-2007
COMMENTARY
Diehl interpreted Baicca as a soldier, hypothesizing that he held the rank of magister primus, similarly to Flavius Hariso, attested among the Heruli seniores (CIL V 8750; EDR097748). On this basis, Baicca's inscription was placed together with those of other soldiers in chapter VII of the Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, dedicated to the ordines aetatis inferioris (ILCV 464 A). Hoffmann also included Baicca among the military personnel (Hoffmann 1969, 63, 80).
However, in the inscription Baicca does not mention any unit of service, and in the Concordia necropolis only a few soldiers are attested who record their rank without specifying their unit. Moreover, planimetric analysis shows that his burial is located among the sarcophagi of civilians, a circumstance that further weakens the military interpretation.
It therefore seems more likely that Baicca was a teacher. The title magister is indeed well attested in late-antique inscriptions from the Adriatic area. A significant comparison is offered by the mosaic of Clamosus, magister puerorum, together with Victorina, in the Euphrasian Basilica of Poreč (EDR133463). Baicca's inscription also presents a peculiar feature: the mention of the profession precedes the personal name, a unique case in the epigraphic corpus of Concordia (Lettich 1983, 63, n. 20).